April 4, 2006

"The Hammer" - a Class Act to the End

As you all probably know by now, Tom DeLay (R-TX) has decided not to run for reelection; in fact, he is resigning from Congress very shortly.

Naturally, the Democrats prefer to spin this as some sort of vindication of the charges filed against DeLay by liberal Democratic thug Ronnie Earle, D.A. of Travis County, TX; but in fact, there has been no movement whatsoever in the case in the last two or three months, nothing that would have changed DeLay's mind.

The Democrats are also crowing that this must be due to the looming scandal of disgraced and convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff:

DeLay is under indictment in Texas as part of an investigation into the allegedly illegal use of funds for state legislative races.

Separately, the Texan's ties with lobbyist Jack Abramoff caused him to formally surrender his post as majority leader in January, within days after the lobbyist entered into a plea bargain as part of a federal congressional corruption probe.

This is intentionally deceptive -- more even than usual with the liberal news media... because AP's David Espo knows or should reasonably be expected to know that DeLay surrendered his majority leadership not because of anything to do with Jack Abramoff, but because he was formally indicted ("ham sandwich" style) by Earle, and because the Republicans had reinstated the rule requiring members to resign from any leadership position if indicted.

There is a word for intentionally misleading readers in an effort to bear false witness against a person; I'm sure we all know that word by now, having watched the moral contortions of the Democrats and their journalistic "plumbers" for many years now.

The real reason that DeLay is stepping down now is so simple and honorable, the Democrats cannot fathom it. They have no experience with such matters. But in fact, Tom DeLay spelled it out in simple English:

"I refuse to allow liberal Democrats an opportunity to steal this seat with a negative personal campaign," DeLay said. "The voters of the 22nd district of Texas deserve a campaign about the vital national issues that they care most about and that affect their lives every day and not a campaign focused solely as a referendum on me...."

In an interview Monday with The Galveston County Daily News in Texas, DeLay said his change of mind was based partly on a poll taken after the March Republican primary that showed him only narrowly ahead of Democrat Nick Lampson. "Even though I thought I could win, it was a little too risky," the paper quoted him as saying.

DeLay wants the GOP to hold his Houston seat... and he knows that's tricky, if the Democrats make it all about Tom DeLay: after years of smearing him with every charge short of mopery with intent to gawk, and with an indictment, however bogus, hanging over his head, the Republican vote in his district might have been depressed if he were the nominee.

So he has stepped aside to allow the party to choose another Republican to run for that staunchly Republican seat -- thus neatly taking one potential pickup off the table for the Democrats. (When they get over their glee at seeing the back of Tom DeLay, they may eventually realize how he outfoxed them to the very end. They'll probably hate him twice as hard.)

The seat will remain Republican. The Texas redistricting will remain in place. And the dirty tricksters will be thwarted once again.

Thanks, Tom; you were a hard man, but an honorable one. You cut corners where everybody else did, because those were the rules of the game (your gerrymander of Texas simply replaced the previous Democratic gerrymander... and it had the advantage of at least restoring voice to the Republican majority of Texas.) And you always campaigned hard for your party, whether you personally liked the candidate or not; even the Left has to admit that, however grudgingly:

And while he was a conservative, he raised millions of dollars for the campaigns of fellow House Republicans regardless of their ideology, earning their gratitude in the process.

Just as they also quietly admit their perennial Abramoff smear is based upon absolutely nothing in DeLay's case:

More recently, former DeLay aide Tony Rudy said he had conspired with Abramoff and others to corrupt public officials, and he promised to help the broad federal investigation of bribery and lobbying fraud that already has resulted in three convictions.

Neither Rudy, Abramoff nor anyone else connected with the investigation has publicly accused DeLay of breaking the law, but Rudy confessed that he had taken actions while working in the majority leader's office that were illegal. [In fact, Abramoff went farther, telling friends he had no negative testimony about Tom DeLay whatsoever. -- the Mgt.]

They lodge the same charge, in reckless disregard for the truth, against every single Republican running for election.

But in the end, even without any fire, the cyclone of smoke blown by the Democratic hit squad threatened to completely obscure the real issue, which is winning the war against jihadi terrorism. We cannot allow the Democrats to capture the House, because they will undo everything Bush has done in the last six years -- and spend the next two in a futile, tit for tat impeachment "show trial" of George W. Bush.

So Tom, a good man, "came to the aid of his party," and took himself out of position as Target Number One. This makes it that much less likely that Democrats can succeed at sabotaging the war, the economy, the military restructuring, rebuilding our intelligence capability, and every effort at reforming the government that Bush has proposed or enacted.

Vaya con Dios, Congressman Thomas Dale DeLay; you'll be missed.

Hatched by Dafydd on this day, April 4, 2006, at the time of 5:33 AM

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» DeLay Withdrawing From CD22 Race! from Rhymes With Right
BREAKING! If the currently breaking report form Chris Matthews is correct, my congressman, former house Majority leader Tom Delay, is withdrawing from the race for CD22 based upon falling poll numbers and recent guilty pleas by former staffers. It is... [Read More]

Tracked on April 4, 2006 6:17 AM

» The Hammer from TechnoChitlins
Tom Delay shows a lot of class and steps down. While the Dems are predictably crowing that they got his scalp, the truth is another thing entirely- from Big Lizards- The real reason that DeLay is stepping down now is... [Read More]

Tracked on April 4, 2006 11:25 AM

Comments

The following hissed in response by: Roy Lofquist

What is significant is that Delay is resigning rather than not seeking reelection. This means that a special election must be held before November. I don't know all the implications of this but I'll bet that the Dems are less than pleased.

It will be fun to see how the Dems scramble to spin this one. And I'm going to enjoy the thought of hearing DeLay working for the party from the outside with the "baggage" discarded. DeLays comment on the state of the Democratic Party sums up much of the sentiment of the Republicans and many independents and moderates.

DeLay said the Democrat Party has no agenda, no solutions -- "all they've got is the strategy of personal destruction and character assassination; and it hasn't worked in the past, it's not going to work in the future. They are a permanent minority party."

I believe that would be "vaya con Dios", not "via".
I will miss Rep Delay, it is a shame to lose one of the GOP who has the backbone to stand up to Dems. They've won against Delay, and are working hard to get the Pres and Sen Frist. They appear to have misfired on the VP, hitting Scooter Libby instead. Having the feisty Rep Delay to fight back would have been an asset.
I wonder though, if things are as sunny as presented in this post. Rep Delay just won a party primary. Why would he step down after winning the nomination by a 2-1 margin? Isn't this inconvenient for the party, which has to jump through a hoop or two to submit a new candidate? Will anyone be surprised if more info becomes available to show there is more to this story, and that the news reflects badly on Rep Delay?

The above hissed in response by: Jim,MtnViewCA,USA at April 4, 2006 11:21 AM

(this if my first post AND i spelled "parallel correctly, so i must be OK, right?)

seriously, folks. If my Colleen McCullough education serves me right, one of the disastrous developments in Rome from about 150 b.c. on was the increasing use by warring Roman senate factions of criminal prosecutions against political enemies. "Procription" as it came to be known. The best and brightest of Rome were increasingly subjected to prosecution and even death if the opposing faction gained power. Perhaps my olfactory is over-active here, but I smell a whiff of the same thing here with DeLay (not to mention the rumblings from Dhimmicrats about what they'll do to Bush if they win the House in November). God save our country if the Dhimms DO gain control of either chamber in November. If you think Ronnie Earle is bad, imagine the persecutions, er, prosecutions that will be hatched by Pelosi and Reid if they ascend to power. (It would be an interesting comparison, by the way, of how Dhimms exercised their majority powers for 40-odd years and how the Repubs have exercised that power. If anything, the Dhimms seem to have grown more bloodthirsty in the years in the wilderness).

The above hissed in response by: TS Alfabet at April 4, 2006 2:27 PM

The following hissed in response by: Mr. Michael

You are going to MISS him? I'm not sure how... I expect to see him all over the place. Well, really I expect to see him all of the time, but only in one place: CNN. Tom makes for good TV... loud, quick spoken, FULLY informed and ready to rumble.

Tom Delay, Unchained.

I say CNN because he chose to speak (if I remember correctly) that blonde dufus who fell apart in front of Michele Malkin and Zell Miller... the Hardball guy, whatever his name is. Imagine the ratings boost CNN can get from THAT get! :)

Stop me if I'm wrong, but I am under the impression that a member of Congress who resigns is entitled to transfer his accumulated campaign contributions to his personal bank account, tax free, as if they were gifts. I hope in Tom's case that this is so and not merely my untutored imagination. At least he'll come out with a nice nest egg. Next stop: governor of Tay-hass?

The above hissed in response by: John Van Laer at April 4, 2006 10:13 PM

The following hissed in response by: Jim,MtnViewCA,USA

Along with TS Alfabet, I also am troubled by the historical parallel. For all the complaints about "questioning patriotism", the anti-Americans are not in jail, their movies and books are not banned and so on. However, they and their allies do appear to have set their sights on pro-US leaders. Tom Delay was one of those who were willing to fight back.
We've seen what happens when you leave the field to your opponents, just look at the slow response to the critics of the Iraq War by the Bush Admin.
Troubling.

The above hissed in response by: Jim,MtnViewCA,USA at April 5, 2006 7:57 AM

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